Sheets of glass are typically cut into pieces of particular shapes and sizes by scoring the glass along one or more appropriate lines and by subsequently snapping the glass along the score line, typically with a tool such as a glass breaker.
Traditionally, the lines along which the glass cutter is displaced to produce the score lines have been inked on the glass being cut. The glass cutter is then moved in freehand fashion along the score lines or, if the line is rectilinear one, along a straight edge held against the glass.
Freehand scoring of the glass has the disadvantage that considerable skill and practice is required to generate an accurate score line on the glass being cut. And accurate cutting is desirable, if not essential, particularly if the piece is to be assembled into a mosaic such as a stained glass window or hanging, for example. Even if the artisan is skilled, accuracy may suffer if the surface of the glass is uneven as is often the when it is stained glass that is being worked. Furthermore, it is difficult for the artisan to hold the glass in place; hold a straight edge or other guide along the line the score is to follow; and, at the same time, displace the glass cutter along that line while the emerging the pressure required to generate a satisfactory score.
The foregoing and other disadvantages of the traditional methods for cutting glass have been recognized by, among others, Morton Glass Works, Inc., Morton, Ill. That company attempted to solve these problems with a device called a portable glass shop.
The portable glass shop includes a rigid base on which the glass is positioned, stops for holding the glass in place, and a pivoted straight edge along which a glass cutter can be displaced to score a straight line at a selected angle to a fixed stop extending along one edge of the base.
One disadvantage of the glass shop is that it is useful only in scoring glass along a straight line. Thus, it is of no value in, for example, cutting pieces of glass with an arcuate contour; and pieces of that shape are commonly needed for designs found in stained glass windows and hangings.
Another disadvantage of the glass shop is that the piece of glass being cut must be butted against the fence located at one edge of that device's base while it is being scored. This significantly limits the utility of the device.
Yet another disadvantage of the glass shop is that the stops incorporated in that device are designed to interact only with pieces of glass possessing straight edges. Therefore, the glass shop provides no particular advantage in cutting a piece of glass which has theretofore been cut to an arcuate or other non-rectilinear configuration.
The glass shop also has the disadvantage that glass having a thickness of less than one-fourth inch cannot be accommodated due to the manner in which the straight edge of that device is supported from its base.